MK Feiglin Vows to Protect the Family Unit

New Knesset Caucus hears evidence of falsification of statistics to create a negative picture of family relations.

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Arutz Sheva, 08/05/13 17:26

Participants at the conference

Yuval Moreno

A new caucus in the Israeli Knesset has begun to work with a newly recognized university in Samaria to counteract anti-family forces. The cooperation between academics and MKs was kicked off in back-to-back conferences at Ariel University and the Knesset last week.

The conference at Ariel University heard evidence that political forces fomenting gender warfare are deliberately falsifying statistics to create a false picture of systematic violent oppression of women by men, as per "patriarchy theory." These false statistics are then allegedly fed into the political and law enforcement systems, as well as the media, to create an anti-male, anti-family environment.

These findings were presented at the founding session of the Knesset Caucus for Strengthening Family and Community Structure. The caucus is chaired by rookie MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud), who is also Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

MK Feiglin is known, among other things, for his insistence on regularly visiting the Temple Mount, despite the Muslim Waqf's stiff opposition. Judging by the intensity of political pressure he had to fend off over the establishment of the family values caucus, however, it appears the latter cause is just as controversial as the former, and perhaps even more so.

The senior academic speaker at the Knesset conference was Prof. Sarah Ben David, who heads the Criminology Department at Ariel University. She reported about the grave findings featured at the conference on "Violence, Conflict and Unity in the Family" that had just been held at the University on the previous day.

Ben David quoted the senior guest speaker at the Ariel conference, Prof. Murray Straus of New Hampshire University, who is widely accepted as the world's leading authority on domestic violence. Prof. Straus had explained, in a 45-minute presentation, that domestic violence statistics are being systematically skewed, and that this has been going on for at least 35 years.

Ben David concurred with Straus and testified that she, too, has been disqualified from publishing academic research that was deemed to be "insufficiently feminist," and has even received threats that conferences she organized – which included critiques of "feminist" domestic violence statistics – would be violently disrupted.

While forces within the universities present the public with a picture of exclusively male-on-female violence, the actual research being carried out in the field for decades, they said, shows that the dominant pattern of violence is one of gender symmetry and mutuality.

In other words – unlikely as this may sound to untrained ears – a woman is just as likely to strike her male partner as a man is to strike his female partner, and fights between partners generally tend to escalate through mutual tit-for-tat behavior. This pattern holds true for severe assault as well. While it is true that women are hurt more than men, by approximately a 2-to-1 ratio, this is largely attributable to men's greater physical strength and robustness.

Someone, then, appears to be demonizing men throughout the Western world. Who is doing it, and why? The chairman of the Familists, veteran Arutz Sheva writer Gil Ronen, hinted broadly at the explanation in his presentation at Ariel University. Ronen – who was a co-organizer of both conferences – called for the establishment of a coordinated pro-family movement, and a new academic discipline – Family Science – to counteract the disinformation propagated by the highly politicized Gender Studies programs.

Another speaker at the conference was Rabbi Ohad Tirosh, Director of the Binyan Shalem Institute for family education. Rabbi Tirosh, Prof. Ben David and Ronen agreed on the need for family centers to teach family skills, and discussed the possibility that such centers would provide guidance for couples, give lectures to the public, conduct research on family and gender related matters, and provide information to policy makers.